Checkpoint Charlie

Fast Facts

Berlin has about 1,700 bridges, even more than Venice.

Construction of the Berlin Wall began on August 13, 1961, and the borders between East and West Germany were closed on a single night. The wall was finally torn down 28 years later on November 9, 1989. It will forever be a symbol of the cold war era. When former United States President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, he said in a long-remembered speech, “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner!"